Tandara I know that you are currently looking into the website extensions, but isn't there a much easier way out?
We are? Please provide citation to where you read that?
To block ads/spam, all we need to do is automatically block the users that have phone number and a messenger (popular like Whatsapp and Telegram) in one post.
How is that relevant to this php based web forum?
For duplicates (and another form of spam), I think it's possible to merge them into one entry (I currently see duplicate posts that still have two entries, just comments merged).
Not sure what you mean here either. We just hide duplicates and redirect those active in the thread already to the primary thread by stating so with a permalink.
If more than one duplicate in certain amount of time, say 30 seconds, they go straight to spam.
Perhaps getting familiar with our setup may help you better understand how things work. Flarum, etc... eg., see:
https://github.com/GrapheneOS/discuss.grapheneos.org/blob/main/stopforumspam-update
Tandara It will also help users that accidentally doxxed themselves/someone else
I am even more confused now, could you please explain how that has anything to do with your initial post?